Monday, June 21, 2010

Well, the passage of health-care legislation has not instantly put an end to the indignities they face, among them the prospect of an average 20% premium increase, according to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. While legislation may end up helping these people with new exchanges and provisions that disallow insurers from using health status to price policies, many key provisions don’t kick in until 2014, the study authors write.

People who didn’t change carriers or plans ultimately ended up paying 18% more than they did before for insurance, putting the average increase paid among everyone who was asked to pay more at 13%. (Look at chart 4 in the actual report to see a diagram that illustrates this all.)

Bob DeMarco is the editor of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. Bob has written more than 1,050 articles with more than 8,000 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.